Bette Midler chooses the Tracks of My Years in an archive interview first broadcast with Ken back in 2008 following the release of her album The Best of Bette. The compilation celebrated Bette’s 35-year career in showbusiness. Her talents encompass theatre, film, songwriting, singing, and comedy. Bette won her first of three Grammy Awards for Best New Artist in 1974, a BAFTA in 1981 for Best Leading Actress for her role in the film The Rose and presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2012. Born in Hawaii, Bette married artist Martin von Haselberg in 1986 and they have a daughter called Sophie who is also an actress.
In 2008 Bette began a two-year residency in Las Vegas to perform Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On. Her two tunes picked for Wednesday in 2008 come from Pink and Peggy Lee. In the following years, Bette returned to Broadway after a 30 hiatus, won a Tony Award for her role in the 2017 production of Hello, Dolly! and sung at the Oscars and the Royal Variety Performance.
NO FRILLS was the best album released in 1983. And yet it flopped. Such a shame!